Take-apart lamp harp

ABSTRACT

A take-apart lamp harp to be mounted on a lamp for supporting a shade thereon. The lamp harp has components which can readily be connected together and disassembled from each other. The lamp harp consists only of a bracket and a resilient bail. The bracket has a base provided with a pair of facing upwardly extending channels which flare upwardly away from one another. The channels having their interiors directed toward each other with each channel having an outer base wall extending upwardly from the base and a pair of opposed sidewalls extending inwardly from the outer base wall and respectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from and directed toward the base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottom edge, having an open bottom end, and having distant from its open bottom end an upper closed end. The resilient bail terminates in a pair of opposed elongated free end portions which flare upwardly away from one another to match the flare of the channels and are laterally movable into the channels. These free end portions of the bail are respectively provided with projections which are received in the grooves, entering into the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

United States Patent [73] Assignee Berger Industries, Inc.

Maspeth, N.Y. a corporation of New York [54] TAKE-APART LAMP HARP 10Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. (I 240/148, 240/36, 240/108, 240/145 [SI] Int.CI. F2lv 17/00[50] Field of Search [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,453,658 11/1948 Chilo 2,53I,023 ll/I950 Berger..

240/ 1 48 240/ l 48 240/ 148 240/ l 48 240/ I48 Primary Examiner-John M.Horan Assistant ExaminerT. A. Mauro Attorney-Kirschstein, Kirschstein &Ottinger ABSTRACT: A take-apart lamp harp to be mounted on a lamp forsupporting a shade thereon. The lamp harp has componentswhich canreadily be connected together and disassembled from each other. The lampharp consists only of a bracket and a resilient bail. The bracket has abase provided with a pair of facing upwardly extending channels whichflare upwardly away from one another. The channels having theirinteriors directed toward each other with each channel having a an outerbase wall extending upwardly from the base and a pair of opposedsidewalls extending inwardly from the outer base wall and respectivelyterminating in bottom edges which are spaced from and directed towardthe base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formed at itsinner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottomedge, having an open bottom end, and having distant from its open bottomend an upper closed end. The resilient bail terminates in a pair ofopposed elongated free end portions which flare upwardly away from oneanother to match the flare of the channels and are laterally movableinto the channels. These free end portions of the bail are respectivelyprovided with projections which are received in the grooves, en teringinto the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

PATENTEU-FEB 2'91! 3,560,733

F/GQI z H A {5 26 28 0 INVENTOR. HERMAN BERGMAN ATTORNEYS P IE U FEB2:971 3,560,733

SHEET 2 0F 2 INVENTOR. HERMAN BERGMAN ATTORNEYS 1 TAKE-APART LAMP'HARPBACKGROUND or THE INVENTION The'present invention relates to lamps.

In particular, the present invention relates to lamp harps.

As is well known, most modern lamp harps are designed so that they canbe taken apart to enable the bail to be removed so as to lower theheight of the lampfor shipment. Conventional lamp harps include a lowerbracket which is separately attached to the lamp base, and, aftershipment, the bail of the lamp harp is coupled to the bracket. For thispurpose, in-addition to the bracket and bail-,- suitable sleeves areprovided for longitudinal movement along the bail into a position withrespect to the bracket where the latter receives the bail for releasablyholding the bail and bracketassembled together, preventing inwardmovement of the bail legs out of the bracket. Moreover, it has beencustomary to provide flats on placed inwardly toward each other awayfrom the channels of the bracket. In order to disassemble the componentsit is necessary first to force the bail to move downwardly so as to abracket.

the sides of the bail legs to match the inner surfaces of the bracketchannels.

These conventional constructions are undesirably complex and expensivetomanufacture and are difficult-to manipulate in connection with theassembling and disassembling the harp components.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION struction of this typewhere the bail andbracket remain re-v liably connected to each other with the bail rigidlyheld by the bracket and incapable of twisting with respect thereto,while at the same time the bail can be readily removed from the bracketthrough exceedingly simple manipulations.

It is a further object of the invention to eliminate the flats onthe'bail legs while maintaining a rigid connection between the bracketand the bail.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a constructionof this type which is exceedingly simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

According to the invention the harp bracket has a base provided with apair of opposed channels-The opposed bracket channels extend upwardlyfrom the base. The interiors of these channels are directed toward eachother, and each channel has 'an outer base wall integral with the baseand a pair of I mutually parallel sidewalls extending inwardly from theouter base wall and terminating in bottom edges spaced from and directedtoward the base. At least one of the sidewalls of each channel is formedat inner surface-with an inner groove having at the bottom edge of thesidewallan open bottom end and terminating in a closed upper endopposite to its open portions of the bailzare respectively providedwithprojections which are respectively received in the grooves and which areinserted into the latter through the open bottom ends thereof.

Thus, with this construction, in order to assemble the bail with thebracket itis only necessary to initially situate the free end portionsof the bail in the channels with the projections located just beneaththe bottom edges of the sidewalls of the channels, and in this way theseprojections will have access to the open bottom ends of the groovesready to be shifted upwardly along the interiors thereof. Theseprojections can be moved up only to an extent limited by the closed topends of. the grooves, so that as long as the projections remain in thegroovesthe bail cannot be separated by upward movement away from thebracket and the legs of the bail cannot be dis- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFDRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in theaccompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. I shows in elevation a lamp harp of the invention associated withadditional conventional lamp components and shown in connection with alamp shade and finial illustrated in dot-dash lines; I

FIG. 2 is an elevation of the elongated free end portions of the bail ofthe harp;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the harp bracket shown connected with theelongated free end portionsof the bail, the right channel of the bracketand the right free end portion of the bail of FIG. 3 being broken awayto show partly in section the manner in which the bail isreceived in thechannel;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the bracket of FIG. 3 as seen whenlooking upwardly toward the lower surface thereof;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary partly sectional elevation, at an enlarged scaleas compared to FIG. 3, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3 in the directionof the arrows in a plane parallel to the left bracket channel of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a transverse section looking upwardly toward the left channelbracket of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 being at the same scale as FIG. 5 and takenalong line 6-6 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary elevation showing, in a view similar to FIG. 3,the connection between the bail and bracket of a harp structure whichslightly differs from that of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the bracket of FIG. 7 as seen whenlooking upwardly toward the bracket;

FIG. 9 is a sectional elevation taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 8 in thedirection of the arrows and showing the elongated free end portions ofthe bail joined to the bracket, the left leg of the bail of FIG. 9 beingfragmentarily illustrated to more clearly show the structure of thebracket and FIG. 9 also showing this left leg in a dot-dash positionjust prior to movement of this left leg of the bail into registry withthe bottom end of the left channel of the bracket;

FIG. 10 is an elevation taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 7 in thedirection of the arrows and showing partly in section at an enlargedscale as compared to FIG. 7, the manner in which the bail is connectedwith the bracket; and

FIG. 11 is a transverse section taken at the same scale. as FIG. 10along line 11-11 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and furtherillustrating how the bail and bracket are joined to each other.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. I, a lamp 20is fragmentarily illustrated therein. This lamp 20 has an 'omamentalsupport or base 22 the top of which is shown in FIG. 1. This support 22has at its top end an opening through which a threaded pipe 24 extends,this pipe being fixed in any suitable way to the support 22. The top ofthe pipe 24 is screwed into the tapped bottom collar of a standardsocket 26.

A lamp harp 28 of the present invention is firmly clamped between thesupport 22 and the socket 26. This harp 28 consists only of a harpbracket 30 and a harp bail 32. The bail 32 is in the form of anelongated resilient wire of circular cross section having had theconfiguration which is most clearly shown in FIG. I imparted thereto ina wire bending machine, while the bracket 30 is fabricated from a singlepiece of sheet metal by suitable punching, swaging and bendingoperations, as well as by further operations referred to below.

As is most clearly apparent from FIG. 4, the bracket 30 has a flat base34 of elongated configuration formed with a central opening 36 throughwhich the pipe 24 extends, and it is the base 34 which is clampedbetween the support 22 and the socket 26. At its opposed ends the base34 of the bracket 30 has a pair of opposed upwardly extending U-shapedchannels 38a and 38b which are oppositely but equally outwardly inclinedwith respect to the base in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 3. Asis apparent from FIG. 3, the channels 38a and 38b are inclined upwardlyand outwardly from the base 30 at an angle of less than 90 with respectto the horizontal and preferably in the order of 30 to 45 off thevertical.

Each of the channels 38a and 38b has an outer base wall integral withand extending upwardly and outwardly from the bracket base 34. The outerbase wall 40b of right channel 38b is shown partly in section in FIG. 3,while FIG. 6 sectionally illustrates, in a transverse section, adownward extension of the outer base wall 400 of the channel 38a. Thesechannels 38a and 38b have in addition to their outer base walls 40a and40b, respectively, pairs of opposed mutually parallel side walls whichrespectively extend inwardly from the outer walls. Thus, FIG. 6 showsthe opposed sidewalls 42a of the channel 38a while the opposed sidewalls42b of the channel 38b are visible in FIG. 3. These channel sidewallsrespectively terminate in bottom edges 44a and 44b which are spaced fromand directed toward the bracket base 34. Thus, the channels 38a and 38bare arranged with their interiors directed toward each other and withtheir sidewalls terminating in the bottom edges 44a and 44b which arespaced upwardly from the base 34 of the bracket.

Each of the channel sidewalls 42a and 42b is formed pursuant to thepresent invention at its inner surface with an inner groove 46a and 46b,respectively, and all of these grooves terminate in open bottom endssituated at the bottom edges 44a and 44b. As is particularly apparentfrom FIG. 3, these inner' grooves 46a and 46b are of the sameinclination as the channels 38a and 38b and extend upwardly from theiropen bottom ends to terminate at upper closed ends which are situated ata relatively small distance upwardly from the bottom edges 44a and 44bof the channel sidewalls.

The bail 32 has a pair of opposed legs 50a and 50b (FIG. 2) whichrespectively terminate in inwardly inclined elongated free end portions52a and 52b, the inclination of which matches the inclination of thechannels, and the diameter of the circular cross section of the wirewhich forms the bail 32 is such that these elongated free end portions52a and 52b can be laterally snugly slidably displaced into and out ofthe channels 38a and 38b between the sidewalls thereof.

In the region of its bottom extremity 54a, the leg 52a if fomied with apair of opposed projections 56a, while in the region of its bottomextremity 54b the elongated free end portion 52b of leg 50b isfonnedwith a pair of opposed projections 56b. As is apparent from FIGS.2, 3, and 6, the projections 56a and 56b are small enough to berespectively snugly slidably received in the grooves 46d and 46b, theseprojections being displaced upwardly into the grooves through the openbottom ends thereof.

Thus, in order to assemble the ball 32 with the bracket 30 it is onlynecessary to insert the legs 50a and 50b into the channels 38a and 38bwith the projections 56a and 56b initially located just beneath thebottom edges 44a and 44b of the channel sidewalls. In this way theprojections 56a and 56b will become aligned with the open bottom ends ofthe grooves 46a and 461:, respectively, so that in response to a slightupward movement of the bail 32 at this time the projections will bedisplaced longitudinally upwardly along the grooves and can move thereinup to abut the closed top ends thereof.

The bail 32 has, when unstressed, a condition where the legs 50a and 50bare spaced from each other by a distance greater than the distancebetween the channels 38a and 38b. Thus, when these legs 50a and 50b aredeflected toward each other to be received in the channels, they will,due to their inherent resiliency, press outwardly against the outer basewalls 40a and 40b of the channels, and in this position the projections56a and 56b will respectively be received in the grooves 460 and 46b.

Once the bail and bracket are assembled as indicated in FIGS. 1, 3, 5and 6, the bail cannot be removed from the bracket unless the legs 50aand 50b thereof are first lowered to displace the projections downwardlybeyond the grooves, whereupon the bail legs can then be deflectedinwardly toward each other out of the channel. As long as theprojections are situated in the grooves, in which they will remain dueto the resilience of the bail and the friction resulting from thepressure thereof against the outer base channel walls, the bail cannotbe displaced upwardly beyond the position where the projections 56a and56b respectively engage the closed top ends of the grooves 46a and 46b.The friction is sufficiently great to prevent the bail from shiftingdownwardly under the light weight of the lamp shade and finial. Inaddition these projections coact with the inner side edges of thegrooves to prevent inward lateral displacement of the bail legs out ofthe channels'. Thus, the parts will remain reliably assembled until thebail is deliberately forced downwardly and deflected inwardly in theabove manner to disconnect it from the bracket.

The inclination of the channels 38a and 38!) with respect to the base 34of the bracket 30 not only contributes to the reliability of theconnection by reason of the fact that the legs 50a and 50b tend toresiliently move apart from each other to cammingly urge the projectionsupwardly along the grooves, but in addition the inclination of thechannels and the matching inclination of the free end portions 520 and52b will contribute to the stiffness of the structure and will reliablyprevent any undesirable twisting of the bail with respect to thebracket.

Before the sidewalls 42a and 42b of the channels 380 and 38b are bentwith respect to the outer base walls thereof, the grooves 460 and 46bare formed at the inner surfaces of the sidewalls as, for example, bybeing coined therein. Moreover, it is an easy matter to form theprojections 56a and 56b next to the extremities 54a and 54b by coining,extremely close dimensional tolerances not being required, so that anexceedingly simple inexpensive method may be used for the manufacture ofthe structure.

It is to be noted that in the example of FIGS. l-6, the projections 56aand 56b respectively have configurations substantially corresponding tothe configurations of the grooves 460 and 46b, so that these grooves aresubstantially filled by the projections to further contribute to thereliability of the connection.

FIGS. 7-11 show another'embodiment of the invention which is identicalwith that of FIGS. 1-6 except for the dif ferences referred to below. I

With the embodiments of FIGS. 71l, the harp 60 has a bracket 62 which isgenerally of the same structure as the bracket 30. This bracket 62 has aflat base 64 terminating in ,the same way, at opposed ends, in theupwardly and oppositely inclined channels 66a and 66b which respectivelycorrespond to the channels 38a and 38b. However, with the embodiment ofFIGS. 7ll the inner side surfaces of the channel sidewalls arerespectively formed with grooves 68a and 68b which are of a differentinclination that that of the channels 66a and 66b. Thus, as is mostclearly apparent from FIGS. 7 and 9, the grooves 68a and 68b areinclined at an angle closer to a right angle with respect to the base 64than are the channels 660 and 66b. However, these grooves 68a and 68balso have bottom open ends at the bottom edges of the sidewalls of thechannels and terminate in upper closed ends situated only a relativelyshort distance upwardly from their bottom ends.

The bail 70 of the harp 60 also has a pair of opposed springy legs 72aand 72b, and the bail 70 is also made of a springy wire of circularcross section. These legs 72a and 72b of the bail 70 also terminate ininwardly inclined elongated free end portions 74a and 74b theinclinations of which correspond to that of the channels 66a and 66b,respectively as is shown most clearly in FIG. 9.-These elongated freeend portions 740 and 74b are provided in the region oftheir extremities76a and 76b 'with pairs of opposed projections 78a and 78b'which arerespectively received in the grooves 68a and 68b. It will be noted thatthe projections 78a and 78b are much smaller than the projections 56aand 56b and in fact may simply take the form of pimples of metal coinedfrom the material of the wire which forms the bail 70.

With this construction the projections 78a and 78b need not be locateddirectly at the extremities 76a and 76b of the legs 72a and 72b,respectively, and since they are substantially smaller than the grooves68a and 68b, the parts can be manufactured with less accuracy than isthe case with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-6.

Moreover, as 'a result of the illustrated inclination of the grooves 68aand'68b. when one of the legs of the bail is situated in a channel withits projections in the grooves thereof, this one leg can rock to someextent in the channel so as to facilitate entry of the other leg into orremoval thereof out of the other channel, as indicated by the dot-dashline illustration of the leg 72a in FIG. 9. Nevertheless, it will benoted that when the projections 78a and 78b are in the grooves 68a and68b, the bracket 62 and bail 70 are reliably held together and cannot beseparated from each other unless one of the bail legs is firstdeliberately forced downwardly, after which the bail leg can bedisplaced inwardly out of the channel. The friction between the legs andthe base walls of the channels provides a sufficiently firm coupling toprevent the bail from being displaced downward under the weight of alampshade and finial. 7

Therefore, while the construction of' FIGS. 7-ll can be made withsomewhat less precision that that of FIGS. l-6, so

that it is even less expensive, nevertheless, the results with respectto ease of assembly and disassembly, low cost, and rigidity of theassembled harp 60 are maintained with this embodiment also.

lclaim:

1 l. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and abracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channelsrespectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels havingtheir interiors directed toward each other and each channel having anouter base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair ofopposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, saidsidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges whichare spaced from said base, at least one of said sidewalls of eachchannel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extendingupwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from saidbottom edge and having 'an open bottom end situated at said bottom edgeof said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongatedfree end portions respectively movable'laterally into said'channels andrespectively having projections respectively received ,in said groovesand dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said openbottom ends thereof and. into abutment with said distant closed ends ofsaid grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket.

2. The combination of claim 1 and-wherein said sidewalls of each channelare respectively formed with a pair of said inner grooves which arealigned with each other and said bail having at each of said elongatedfree end portions thereof a pair of opposed projections respectivelyreceived in the grooves of each channel.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each channel of said bracketis inclined upwardly fromsaid base thereof at an angle of less then withrespect thereto and said elongated free end portions of said bailrespectively having inclinations corresponding to those of said bracket,channels.

4. The combination of claim I and wherein said elongated free endportions of said resilient bail have in an unstressed condition of thelatter a distance from each other greater than the distance between saidchannels of said bracket so that when situated in the said channels saidfree end portions of said bail tend to resiliently press against saidouter base walls of said channels.

5. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projection at each of thefree end portions of said bail is integral with said bail.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said projection is formed fromthe material of said bail.

7. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said grooves are respectivelyof the same inclination as said bracket channels.

8. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket,said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectivelyextending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiorsdirected toward each other and each channel having an outer base wallintegral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewallsextending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channelrespectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from saidbase, and at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed atits inner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from itsbottom edge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge andhaving an open bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall,said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portionsrespectively movable laterally into said channels and respectivelyhaving projections respectively received in said grooves and dimensionedto move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereofand into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves formaintaining said bail assembled with said bracket, each channel of saidbracket being inclined upwardly from said base thereof at an angle ofless than 90 with respect thereto and said elongated free end portionsof said bail respectively having inclinations corresponding to those ofsaid bracket channels, said grooves being inclined at an angle differentfrom the inclination of said bracket channels.

9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein said grooves are inclined atan angle closer to 90 angle with respect to said base of said bracketthan said legs.

10. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projections of saidelongated free end portions of said bail are situated in the immediatevicinity of bottom extremities of said bail where saidfree end portionsthereof terminate.

1. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and a bracket,said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channels respectivelyextending upwardly from said base, said channels having their interiorsdirected toward each other and each channel having an outer base wallintegral with said base of the bracket and a pair of opposed sidewallsextending inwardly from said outer wall, said sidewalls of each channelrespectively terminating in bottom edges which are spaced from saidbase, at least one of said sidewalls of each channel being formed at itsinner surface with an inner groove extending upwardly from its bottomedge, having a closed end distant from said bottom edge and having anopen bottom end situated at said bottom edge of said sidewall, saidresilient bail having a pair of lower elongated free end portionsrespectively movable laterally into said channels and respectivelyhaving projections respectively received in said grooves and dimensionedto move slidably upwardly therein through said open bottom ends thereofand into abutment with said distant closed ends of said grooves formaintaining said bail assembled with said bracket.
 2. The combination ofclaim 1 and wherein said sidewalls of each channel are respectivelyformed with a pair of said inner grooves which are aligned with eachother and said bail having at each of said elongated free end portionsthereof a pair of opposed projections respectively received in thegrooves of each channel.
 3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein eachchannel of said bracket is inclined upwardly from said base thereof atan angle of less then 90* with respect thereto and said elongated freeend portions of said bail respectively having inclinations correspondingto those of said bracket channels.
 4. The combination of claim 1 andwherein said elongated free end portions of said resilient bail have inan unstressed condition of the latter a distance from each other greaterthan the distance between said channels of said bracket so that whensituated in the said channels said free end portions of said bail tendto resiliently press against said outer base walls of said channels. 5.The combination of claim 1 and wherein said projection at each of thefree end portions of said bail is integral with said bail.
 6. Thecombination of claim 5 and wherein said projection is formed from thematerial of said bail.
 7. The combination of claim 3 and wherein saidgrooves are respectively of the same inclination as said bracketchannels.
 8. A take-apart lamp harp consisting of a resilient bail and abracket, said bracket having a base and a pair of opposed channelsrespectively extending upwardly from said base, said channels havingtheir interiors directed toward each other anD each channel having anouter base wall integral with said base of the bracket and a pair ofopposed sidewalls extending inwardly from said outer wall, saidsidewalls of each channel respectively terminating in bottom edges whichare spaced from said base, and at least one of said sidewalls of eachchannel being formed at its inner surface with an inner groove extendingupwardly from its bottom edge, having a closed end distant from saidbottom edge and having an open bottom end situated at said bottom edgeof said sidewall, said resilient bail having a pair of lower elongatedfree end portions respectively movable laterally into said channels andrespectively having projections respectively received in said groovesand dimensioned to move slidably upwardly therein through said openbottom ends thereof and into abutment with said distant closed ends ofsaid grooves for maintaining said bail assembled with said bracket, eachchannel of said bracket being inclined upwardly from said base thereofat an angle of less than 90* with respect thereto and said elongatedfree end portions of said bail respectively having inclinationscorresponding to those of said bracket channels, said grooves beinginclined at an angle different from the inclination of said bracketchannels.
 9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein said grooves areinclined at an angle closer to 90* angle with respect to said base ofsaid bracket than said legs.
 10. The combination of claim 1 and whereinsaid projections of said elongated free end portions of said bail aresituated in the immediate vicinity of bottom extremities of said bailwhere said free end portions thereof terminate.